Two Weeks, Give or Take
by unsubstitute
Summary: When it only takes one week and six days in the Dharma Initiative before she's hooking up with Sawyer, she knows she's in trouble.


**Two Weeks, Give or Take.**

**Summary: **When it only takes one week and six days in the Dharma Initiative before she's hooking up with Sawyer, she knows she's in trouble.

**A/N:** I did not mean for this to happen, but I've been doing a LOST rewatch and now here this is. These characters and settings are not mine. Based on LOST 05 x 08: LaFleur.

* * *

Juliet has never put a lot of value in sex. Casual sex, that is. For her, it has always had to be accompanied by something more. It is an expression of love.

So when it only takes one week and six days in the Dharma Initiative before she's hooking up with Sawyer, she knows she's in trouble.

Later, James tells her it was inevitable. He says it in that way he has, when his guard is like 90% of the way up, where he sounds like he's just making this light little joke, even though he means every word of it. She likes when he does that. Wonders what exactly that says about her.

But maybe he's right. Maybe it was inevitable. It doesn't help that everyone already assumes it's happening. That first night, after he talked Richard into leaving and talked her into staying, Horace assigns them bunks.

She is standing with her team: Miles, Faraday, Jin and James. They've only been together for a week, but when you're travelling through centuries a week goes a long way.

"We're a little short on housing right now, so I'm afraid you boys are gonna have to bunk up," Horace tells the group.

She looks down at herself then around at the rest of them. Jin is confused. Daniel is barely paying attention. Miles looks a little creepy. And Sawyer is looking straight at Horace like he already gets it. But she doesn't know what there is to get so she asks, "What about me?"

Horace laughs. "Don't worry," he says, "we have a little one bedroom that will suit you and Jim just fine."

Half a syllable of protest is out of her mouth when she feels a heavy arm tugging the small of her back, and Sawyer says, "That'd be great, Horace. Thanks. Sounds perfect."

She waits until they are alone to ask about it, but he answers her before she has a chance. "Hope you don't mind a roomie, but I figured your couch would be better than sharing bunk beds with Looney Tunes and the Ghostbuster, or Jin who I just bet loves to cuddle."

She ignores any follow up comments like, "what's wrong with their couch?" or "I don't know, a roommate who doesn't speak English sounds nice to me." Instead she gives him a pillow and a blanket and thinks she hasn't spent more than thirty minutes away from him since he swam up to her on the beach, five days and thirty years ago. She thinks she doesn't mind the lack of alone time.

* * *

On the second day, there isn't a lot to do. She still has every intention of leaving this island, so there's no point in an orientation. Instead she spends the day wandering around the compound cataloging what things are different and what things are exactly the same. When she gets back to the house, he's standing on the front porch, beer in hand, smiling at her. He makes a show of waiting for her, embellishing his reaction so she'll think it doesn't matter to him as much as it actually does. She thinks she might have missed him today.

That night they peruse the bookshelves together, chatting here and there about what books in the collection one or the other has already read or has always wanted to. She points out the shiny new copy of Carrie that sits in the middle of the middle shelf. The book has only been out a few months, which makes this a first addition. She makes a remark about taking it with her when she leaves in thirteen days. He doesn't even wisecrack a response.

The next morning she wakes up to find him sitting in a chair, couch untouched. When she greets him good morning he jumps a little, "Carrie just died in the parking lot." An hour later he brings her the book, says, "had to read it before it gets lost in time." If there's such a thing as a shy smirk, that's what he gives her. She gives one back to him.

* * *

On the fifth day, there is a picnic for everyone on the compound in the common area. In line for a cheeseburger, a woman in front of them asks how everything is working out in their new home. He wraps his arm around her as he tells the woman everything is working out just fine. His hand lands a little lower on her hip than is strictly appropriate, and he lets it linger there after the woman is gone. He only moves away again when Juliet twists to reach the burger tongs.

In the evenings, they have worked out a routine where they sit together, him in the chair, her on the couch in the corner closest to him, quietly reading. They don't talk, they don't touch, they just read. Together. Only the sound of his slurping on a beer will break the quiet. Eventually she gets up goes to bed. When she gets up the next morning, he is on the couch, head resting in the corner where she was sitting.

* * *

On the ninth day, around sunset they hear the sounds of a woman's screaming coming in through their open windows and without looking at each other they are both up and out the door in five seconds, racing the few yards across the lawn, side by side. They are the first to arrive. Sawyer busts through the door, Juliet literally at his heels as he calls out, "Ma'am! Are you all right?" She appears, a petit brunette, younger than Juliet, holding a broom and looking terrified.

"Oh thank god!" she says, "It must have come in through an open window."

"What must have?" Juliet asks, already suspicious.

"A bird! It's flying around the kitchen. I hate birds! Ever since I saw that Hitchcock movie back in Michigan. Can you get it out?"

"A bird?" No one can sound incredulous like James can. "You were screaming murder over a damn sparrow?"

The woman starts to look embarrassed. Juliet turns to James and smirks. He's trying to stay tough but she can see the corners of his mouth start twitching. Jin and a few DI members run in through the still open door a few seconds later, so they make their way out. "Just leave all the external doors and windows open for a little while, shut all the inside doors, and he should leave soon." Juliet suggests to the woman. She is trying to sound sympathetic but the smirk isn't going away.

It hits them as soon as they step across the woman's threshold. Waves of raucous laughter. The kind that makes them double over, gasp for breath. Her face hurts. But then she sees him. It might be the first time she's ever seen him laugh. He is red-faced and a little teary eyed. And beautiful.

* * *

On the tenth day, Jin finds a pond designated as the Dharma swimming hole and convinces them to go with him. It is the first time since Locke jumped down the magic well that Jin has seemed enthusiastic about anything, so everyone is quick to agree. Even Daniel comes, though he sits under a tree and reads his notebook the entire time. Juliet finds a swimsuit in the bag of clothes one of the DI women brought her on the first day. It's a little bit too small, which makes it more revealing than it is supposed to be. She has every intention of waiting until the guys are all in the water before she undresses, but James won't go in until she does. So she strips off her t-shirt and shorts and tries to pretend not to notice he is blatantly staring at her. Just like she pretends she isn't staring at him, too.

* * *

On the twelfth day, as they walk across the lawn on the way back from dinner at Amy's house, he keeps brushing his hand against hers like he is getting up the nerve to hold it. Like he's a shy kid and wasn't a womanizing con man just six months ago. On day 12 she may or may not have been brushing against his hand right back.

* * *

And then on day thirteen, Horace offers James a position in security. She has just snuggled into her corner on the couch, when he comes home. He doesn't sit in his chair. Instead he comes up to the couch, standing over her, looking down. "So, are you really still leaving tomorrow, Sunshine?"

"That's the plan."

"Your plan's stupid."

"James, I told you I'd give you two weeks. And I have."

"Yeah, but, you still really want to go? I mean, I think we got a pretty good thing here."

She doesn't ask whether he means with the Dharma Initiative or with each other. It's only been two weeks since that freighter blew up and his friends all got rescued without him. He's in mourning. He just doesn't want to be lonely.

"Juliet, please. Don't go." She looks up at that, he sounds so serious. It's the most sincere she's ever seen him. He's practically vulnerable.

Everything in her says she needs to stick her ground. It's almost been four years now that leaving this Island has been her only goal. Still, she finds herself saying, "I'll think about it," and smiling.

He grins then, so excited because he's getting his way, and she has no idea how it happens, if he lifts her or she gets up on her own, but she's on her feet and their faces are uncomfortably close. So close that it takes another moment to realize she's kissing him, or he's kissing her, but either way, there mouths are touching.

She would have thought maybe the sex would have been frantic, like running through the jungle. It isn't. He only stops kissing her long enough to smile at her and tuck an errant hair behind her ear. Then they guide each other toward the bedroom. She is surprised how easily he can find his way to the door without looking, thinks maybe he's hovered outside it before. He doesn't rip her clothes off like she thinks he will. Instead, he peels them off, piece by piece, excruciatingly slowly. She mirrors his images until they are both wearing nothing but moonlight.

He lowers her back onto the bed and slides up the length of her, until he is staring at her face. He kisses her, but it's slow and rhythmic, and when his hand is exploring her he moves it in time. When she can't stand the wait any longer, suddenly he's inside her and it feels so good to be this close to someone. To have someone this interested in being close to her. _For now_, she thinks, but she swallows the words with his mouth.

And then he proves that practice makes perfect. She's never seen anything like it. Her legs are clamped around the backs of his thighs. He supports himself with the tops of his knees, grabs her hips and physically moves her around him until her gasp lets him know he's found the right place. He keeps on hitting that place over and over again, putting his hands all over her, until finally, when she doesn't think she can take anymore, he brings his hands up to her face and kisses her, devours her. Her body tenses just before his does and she can taste their screams dancing together at the top of her throat.

When it's over, he kisses her a little more and then collapses over her shoulder. After a minute he rolls over and flips her with him so that she is lying on top of him. Her mind feels like it is running in water. So sated that the string of worried thoughts come in at quarter speed. _This is how he gets women to do what he wants. But all he wants now is me. Well, maybe it's all he can get._ He's rubbing her back in absent-minded circles. She sighs into his sternum. He lifts her chin with the crook of his forefinger and gives her a questioning look, followed quickly by a smug smile. So good at getting what he wants.

* * *

In the morning, she wakes up to an empty bed. The indent from his body is still deep and she can smell coffee. When she passes the bedroom mirror she notices herself smiling. In the kitchen, there is a cup of coffee, no cream, two sugars, sitting alone on the counter. She finds him sitting on the stoop of the front porch. He looks up over his shoulder at her when he hears the door. His eyes are affectionate, but his smile is not quite there yet. She feels something like dread bubble in her gut, blames it on the coffee.

When she is close enough he tugs on her hand, "Well, good morning, Sunshine!" he says in the same old Sawyer voice as he is dragging her to sit next to him on the step.

"Hey there," she says. Her voice is soft and sleepy. She has to hide a smirk when she hears it. She sounds like a morning after.

They sit without speaking. She watches him. He watches the grass in front of them. His face is indiscernible.

"Are you thinking about…" she can't bring herself to say another woman's name so soon after, so she settles on "…the freighter?"

He sighs, drops his head, doesn't look at her. "I was just thinking, I shouldn't feel this good so soon after. It don't seem right, being…happy. Already. Didn't see this comin'."

It's not what she expected, and getting caught off guard is hard for her. She doesn't know what to say.

"But oh well. They're gone anyway, ain't nothin' I can do about it. And hell. The _freighter_'s prolly moving on with the Doc right now."

She can hear her own sharp intake of breath. He hears it too. "Sorry. I strike a nerve? Still holdin' that torch?" He sounds sympathetic, and a little bit jealous.

"No." It comes out forcefully and she knows she means it. "No, it's just, I've been trying to leave this island practically since I got here. Then I met Jack, and he promised me that he and I were in this together. That we were gonna get away from this place together. And now he's gone, he's off the island, and I'm still here."

He sighs and puts an arm around her shoulders. Pulls her into him so not even air can come between them. "Well, you know, this island ain't so bad. We got beaches, mountains. A bona fide hippie commune. It's a permanent vacation! Anyway, it ain't where you are, but who you're with. That's what they say, ain't it?"

"That's what they say." She knows she must be crazy. Three weeks ago he all but hated her, and is probably still in love with someone else. But the feel of his arm around her, their legs pressed together, his breath in her hair, those are very convincing arguments.

"Well I ain't so bad, either. You just gotta get to know me." His words are hot against her scalp.

She has to steady herself for what's next. "Okay, James. I'll stay."

"Woohoo!" He bounds up off the stoop and lifts her up with him. Twirls her around as he spins, hooting and hollering in the Dharma Initiative grass. Then he stops, smooths his hands over her face, like he's checking for doubt. "You sure, Blondie? You mean it?"

She gives him a smirk. _No, not really_, wants to come out but instead she hears herself say, "I'm sure, James." He hugs her tight, kisses her soundly right there in the middle of the compound, and she knows it's over. She's never getting off this island.

-end.


End file.
